Reaching the last steps of the staircase, the Boy-Who-Lived takes a good look of the arena before him. If he doesn't know better, he would have thought he's in some sort of an ancient court with doric pillars and stone steps. But a sharp pain suddenly shoots up his scar, causing him to temporarily stop his steps and raise his right hand up to his scar and gently rub it to somewhat reduce the pain. That, however, immediately alarms him as he looks at the person standing at the middle of the arena, looking intensely at the Mirror of Erised.
"Quirrell."
"Good afternoon, Potter." True enough, the DADA ex-Professor turns his attention to the point, which somehow makes the pain in his scar vanish for a moment. "You and Snape caused quite a lot of trouble for me, so I had to push the plan sooner." The person's 'usual' scaredy-cat expression is replaced with being 'chilling to the core' and hostility towards the Boy-Who-Lived.
"Why the rush? Most didn't really expect you to pull this stunt." Lowering his right hand, Harry readies his wands in case Quirrell decides to attack midway.
"Of course. The-e-e-e stu-u-utering Prof-fessor who co-o-uldn't har-rm a fly. But I suspected that you and Snape already told that to Dumbledore."
"The Headmaster is gonna find out anyway." Harry then looks at the mirror behind Quirrell and questions curiously: "This couldn't be the last obstacle, could it?"
Instead of answering, Quirrell snaps his fingers. On instinct, Harry rolls to the side in case something hits him. And he's correct, as ropes appear out of thin air after the snap and try to grab him where he stood.
"Hm. You can dodge that. No wonder you were picked as the Seeker despite being First-Year."
"Well, you gave me a head-up." Testing to see if he can catch the person off guard, Harry charges up Thunder in his left hand for half a second then throws it to Quirrell, who instantly raises Protego up to protect himself. "...I guess you are a DADA teacher not just for show, then?"
"After what you said after defeating the Troll I released, I realized that I have to treat you as a real threat to my plans."
"Of course you did that." He fires out a Stupefy with the right wand while casting a 'Go For It' (Rom's SP Skill) on himself with the left wand so that he can dodge faster.
As expected, another Protego is up, followed by a counterattack which Harry doesn't bother to know because he's already running out of the way, and Quirrell doesn't spell it out loud either.
The villain then throws more spells out, causing Harry to abandon any current plans of attacking first as he's focusing on evading the attack. Though when he manages to pull out his hoverboard and rides on it, he's now free to not care of the floor hindering his speed, and he starts firing out basic element spells along with some Stupefy towards his opponent and Reducto onto the ground around them to catch Quirrell off guard.
Minutes pass, and both sides haven't landed a successful hit on each other, though Harry got a narrow escape from an attack that cut parts of the left side of his shirt.
Deciding something a bit bolder, he pulls out his skateboard and throws it towards Quirrell, causing the ex-teacher to dodge aside, though that only stops him for a second before he throws another spell… that is interrupted by Harry using Accio on the item to fly back to his hand, which hits Quirrell on the back. But that stun doesn't last long, and from Harry's perspective, it seems to piss off the ex-teacher a bit that the spells come at him at higher speed.
An idea pops up in Harry's mind, and he points both wands towards Quirrell and uses Aguamenti all over him. Of course, the enemy doesn't realize the true intention at first so he just uses Protego to make sure he doesn't lose sight of Harry. However, when he drops the shield, Harry points at the ground below Quirrell and fires a Thunderbolt, causing the arena to catch electricity and paralyze the villain for a few seconds.
It, of course, doesn't last long either. Despite having his muscle cramped, Quirrell somehow is still able to cast spells, just only a bit slower than before.
The hit-and-run continues for a while more… until Quirrell predicts where Harry will dodge and fires a Slowing Charm at him, causing his own Speeding Spell to stop being effective. Using the moment that Harry loses his footing on the hoverboard due to the sudden halt of momentum and falls to the ground with his right hand dropping out of his hand, Quirrell fires the ropes out again and this time he successfully binds the Boy-Who-Lived down.
During the time Harry struggles to get off the rope, Quirrell catches his breath. "I see why you can hold on to the broom despite me cursing it constantly. Of course, Snape helped with his counter-curse… and then you just had to jump off the broom."
"And then you stopped doing anything to kill me. Real smooth there." The Boy-Who-Lived decides that the spell fight is over, so now he's gonna irritate his opponent to no end. Though he kinda doubts that it works with the same effectiveness he does with his friends.
"Oh I wanted to, boy. But after what happened, that old senile ordered the Elves to keep eyes on you." Drying his robe and putting his wand back in his inner pocket, Quirrell turns his attention to the mirror. "Now be quiet. I'm going to examine the mirror."
"Yeah, sure. Like I would." Harry sarcastically barks back, though it really does seem to go over Quirrell's bold head… "Losing all your hair to find a way to kill me? How admirable you are."
Another taunt being ignored, as Quirrell murmurs to himself about giving the Stone to his Master… Wait, what?
"Master? You didn't try finding the Stone for yourself?"
That does make Quirrell pause for a second, before continuing his search. But he does humor the boy's interest as he answers: "Of course I didn't. Lord Voldemort had much more ambitions than myself, and if I gave him the Stone, he would gain back his power and grant me more than what I ever wanted."
"...I heard old Voldy was dead after trying to kill me. Are you really hallucinating that bad?" Harry is currently facing towards the middle of the area, while his hands still try to find a knot to untie himself…
Then he has another idea…
"Do not speak lowly of Lord Voldemort, boy."
'Ah, that's the tick I like to see.' "You know, old Voldy didn't seem to be that great, huh? Trying to kill a one-year-old baby with a Killing Curse, and yet it backfired at him. Sounds like a twisted but happy ending for my own fairy tale bedtime story, heh?"
Quirrell's right hand turns to knuckle for a moment before relaxing and he keeps looking around the mirror.
"It showed me that I'm giving Master the Stone… but it didn't tell me how I got it…" The villain mutters to himself. "Do I need to break the mirror? But Dumbledore wouldn't be that dumb to just hide it so carelessly like that…"
"Maybe he set this all as a trap, and he kept it somewhere else. Man, how dumb are you and good old Voldy?"
"DO NOT…"
"Use… the boy…"
A hissing sound suddenly speaks up, stopping Quirrell from rushing towards Harry and strangling him, and the boy himself from speaking. From the direction of the voice, it actually comes from the ex-DADA professor himself…
"Master?"
"Use him… let him see the mirror…"
"...Of course!" Quirrell's expression lightens up as he grabs the rope part on Harry's body and pulls him towards the mirror. "Now mister Potter, look into the mirror and tell me what you see."
"...You expect me to tell you the truth?" Harry questions, not out of malice but pure confusion. "Like, we are opponents here. You want me to spill it out?"
To respond to that, Quirrell points his wand towards the boy's chin.
"...That or I die. Alright then." Sighing, Harry accepts… until he remembers. "Shouldn't you be, like, on my side instead? You saw my parents…"
"Back to you, boy. We are forever enemies."
"...I got nothing then." To Quirrell's slight delight, Harry gives up in trying to find his way out and looks in the mirror…
After a moment, his own reflection starts reaching to his jeans' pocket and pulls out a red gem which Harry assumes it's the Sorcerer's Stone, then the reflection puts it back into the pocket. At the same time, Harry also feels the weight of the item in his, signaling that he got it.
"...What did you see, boy?" Getting impatient, Quirrell orders.
"Would you believe me if I said I broke it?" Harry lies. "I doubt it would give me anything if I…"
"He lies…"
"Do you have a lie detect…"
"Potter, tell the truth!"
Feeling the wand imprinting deeper into his skin, Harry sighs and gives up. "Fine. It's in my left pocket."
Thankfully, it does get the wand out of the way as Quirrell happily reaches his hand towards the boy's pocket…
Only for him to retract the hand back in pain as something just cut his hand as blood starts pouring out of the palm.
During the time Quirrell's distracted, Harry quickly uses the hidden knife that he swapped with the left wand earlier while taunting his enemy and quickly cuts himself out of the rope.
After a while, he manages to get himself free and he plans to book it out, until he sees Quirrell's turban dropped on the ground. He subsequently looks at the ex-teacher who's facing away from him while clutching his hands… only for another face to stare coldly at him from the back of the head.
"...So you are Voldy, then."
"Naive bravery, Harry Potter. You really think you can beat me, the Greatest Dark Wizard of All Times?"
"...Yeah sure, ol Greatest. Parasitizing another person?" Harry takes a small moment to glance where he needs to run before returning back to his enemy.
"Your attitude matches with that foolish father of yours. Now, give me the Stone, or you die."
"Yeah, screw that!" Harry instantly turns to the exit and starts running…
Only for, somehow, Quirrell to grab the back of his neck with blistering pace. That, for some reasons, makes Harry's head feel like it's exploding in pain. Twitching his fingers to find the attached knife, he plans to swing the knife backward, but when he's about to do so, Quirrell's hand retracts.
He quickly turns back to see what happens, to see that the bleeding hand, which is used to grab his neck, has its fingers slowly disintegrating away to his surprise. That doesn't last long, however, as Quirrell tries again and this time he uses both his hands and applies much more pressure on his neck. The pain in Harry's head returns and intensifies, causing him to temporarily forget the knife as he tries to pry the hands away.
Again, Quirrell has to back off again because his own hands are burning up and almost go away like his fingers. As Voldemort orders his subordinate to kill Harry, the boy has no choice but to dig the knife into the ex-teacher's shoulder, while his right hand instinctively pushes Quirrell's face to try to push him down to the ground, with his current plan only to delay the man so that he has some time to run. Of course, with his current strength, he can only push the villain a few steps away, but the hand actually does the work as the face of the villain burns. Quirrell pushes Harry away in panic while screaming.
The damage is done… and whatever causes the pain on the villain slowly but surely kills him. And the scream slowly stops, then the arena turns silent except for Harry's panting.
'...What… What happened?' Not even the boy himself is uncertain of what transpired as he looks down at his hands then touches his neck. '...What killed him?' He knows that there are some mobs with ability to deflect attacks back, but he never learns one and he is certain that even if he has, there's no way the ability could kill a person that fast.
Then he remembers about the Stone, and he pulls it out to see that it looks exactly the same as the one in the mirror. "...What a problematic item." Harry sighs and pockets the thing then slowly stands up, only to his head to throb in pain, stopping him from walking away. He plans to ignore it, but his eyes slowly narrow down, with tiredness following…
Just rest, will you?
'*Sigh* If you say so.'
The moment he can feel his body, and that he can open his eyes, Harry does so and finds himself facing the usual bright ceiling of the upper Hogwarts School. He then notices a person sleep-sitting on the right side of the bed that he's lying in…
"Of all things, sleep-sitting."
"Just to confirm it's you, dad." The Boy-Who-Lived-Again chuckles as he sits up in his bed. "How long was I out for?"
"Nearly a day.." He then feels someone rubbing his head from the left so he turns to see Kurome with a small smile. "How do you feel?"
"Slightly distorted, but I think I'm good." Harry honestly responds. "Did you two bring us out? And is Ron and Hermione alright?"
"They are fine, mister Potter." The three turn to the door of the infirmary to see the Headmaster already closing to Harry's bed. T.O gestures to Dumbledore to sit on the seat closer to Harry, which the old man thanks and accepts the offer. Once settled, he continues: "Mister Weasley only got a minor concussion and he's already recovered this morning. Miss Granger was unharmed, though both of them were worried about your health."
"I see… about the Stone…"
"This one?" Kurome pulls out the red gem from her pocket, and Harry nods. "It's a fake."
"...You are telling me, the thing that I had to fight tooth and nail against my supposed worst enemy and barely got out alive…"
"Is real." Harry's mouth stays open as he turns to T.O with his expression hidden behind the scarf. "You want to know if the stone in Kurome's hand is real or not, so she answered it was fake."
"...Screw you Dad." Harry throws his hands up and laughs at his own stupidity with the others following quickly. "The real one must be hidden away again then."
"I have destroyed it." To the boy's surprise, Dumbledore debunks the idea.
"Eh… why? I mean, sure, it is dangerous to keep around, but…"
"That's Nicholas's final decision, and I agreed to follow his wish."
"...Who?"
"Nicholas Flamel." Dumbledore repeats. "He's my friend, and he's the one making the stone."
"...Right, him… but Hermione said that once stopped, anyone using the Stone would still die, right? Sir Flamel is okay with it?"
"Death is part of Life. And while it does sound a bit horrifying, to old men like me and him, it's just another sleep, just that it would last very long."
"...I guess so." Harry looks at the ceiling and thinks a bit about it… then remembers: "What did I do to Quirrell? Is that the 'power' you told me at Christmas, Professor?"
"Yes, and it's the power of Love."
"...Last I heard, Love doesn't kill." Harry raises his eyebrow in confusion at Dumbledore's reply.
"Think of it as a Kryptonite thing." Kurome explains. "To us, Love is not harmful. But to those filled with nothing but hatred and negativity, the mere presence of positive feelings like Love is deadly to them."
"...If you know that well, why don't I have a sibling yet?"
That causes the girl's face to light up like the sun as she squeezes the boy's cheek in embarrassment, while the men just smile at the scene.
After the girl retracts her hand with her face still red while pouting, Harry asks again: "How did I actually get the Stone?"
"That's something that I myself even find fascinating that I found out." Dumbledore's eyes sparkle. "Only when one wants to find the Stone, but NOT use it, would one be able to get it."
"...You know, my lie kinda lines up with that." Harry crackles, but then he remembers: "What about Voldy? Did anyone see him?"
"Gone." T.O shakes his head. "Left Quirrell's body like a discarded item."
"Greatest Dark Wizard, huh?" The boy sarcastically repeats what the ghost called himself.
"He was." Dumbledore solemnly replies. "To some degrees, he earned it throughout his regime."
"...There are more powerful wizards in this world, aren't there?"
"Another question that you should find the answer yourself, Harry. Rest a bit more before you return back to your dorm." T.O then gently pats the boy's head and disappears.
"Take care of yourself, Harry." And with that Kurome vanishes back to the 'realm'.
"...It's not like you stop watching me anyway." Harry chuckles, followed by Dumbledore. "So I guess it's over, then?"
"If you want to discard the fact that you are going to have to explain what happened down there to your friends. Mind you, rumors have already started spreading out."
"Oh Goddesses have mercy." Now the boy fully falls down with his head hitting the pillow. "Things can't be worse, can they?"
"...How did you feel?"
"...I beg your pardon?" Dumbledore's sudden serious question confuses the boy.
"Back then, when you killed Quirrell."
"...At that moment? Nothing." Harry replies sincerely. "He had full intentions to kill me anyway. Though if being surprised because of my own 'Touch-of-Death' counts, then maybe." He notices something resembling sadness or remorse in the old man's face. "Is something wrong?"
"...I was thinking if telling you about the prophecy is the right decision or not. You are too young to…"
"Professor." The boy cuts him off. "Pretty much every other day I face Death. And I mean literally. Gamindustrians are no stranger to killings."
"Still, I do not wish you to know about killing that soon."
"I didn't plan to kill Quirrell, if that can settle you down. And I'm sure mostly everyone in my 'family' doesn't kill that often except for my Uncle. Well… killing another sentient being, I mean."
"...I suppose." Not entirely agreeing with the boy's view, Dumbledore does see that Harry won't just cut people down left and right. The old man then stands up and bids him goodbye: "It's almost time to return back to work. You can leave when Madam Pomfrey allows you."
"Thank you, Professor."
"So, about what you talked about with Dumbledore…"
"Year Two is the worst, so far."
"I know. But to agree with that…"
"You think we can escape that?"
"Eh… Wishful thinking?"